Main Range Hike this weekend.

Well I found a spare weekend and my Bear Grylls style mate has convinced me to go for a hike this weekend in the main range.  Basic plan is to head down tomorrow arvo, spend the night camping at Charlottes and set off in the predawn darkness on Saturday morning and head out to Club Lake and Carruthers Peak area.  My mate has most of the gear required but Caboose from here is going to kindly lend me one of his backpacks for the journey, I’m going to take my old skate banana as I’m not concerned about damaging it in dodgy snow conditions.  Mate has a pair of snowshoes for me so it shouldn’t be too bad getting out and back.  We shall see how it all unfolds but it should be an adventure at any rate.

Unfortunately I only really have a rugged compact camera that I’m willing to take, it shoots 720p video but is no GoPro /Contour, will make do with that and hopefully get some decent pics and video from the trip.  I’m pretty happy that I’ve dropped about 6-7 kgs in the last week and half on my SUP as dragging myself up and down the hills earning my turns might be a fraction easier than it would have been two weeks ago!

Have a ripper time mate!!
We expect a TR when your back obviouslyl

Mike,

Happy to lend you my Drift if you want? Will you pass through the city tomorrow?

Yea or if you can get to St Leonards tonight, I’ll lend you my Go Pro on a pole.

I will be in St Leonards the sarvo around lunchish I think to grab the bag from Cabby but apart from that I can’t really.  Thanks for the offer though Oz and TJ!  Will just make do with what I have and hopefully should be able to turn out something decent!

Should still be plenty of snow judging from this pic at Thredbo 2 days ago

Sounds like an epic weekend

Can’t wait to hear all about it

Cant wait to see pics!!! Enjoy

Shit yeh! i will be thinking of you earning your turns whilst i am lazing by the pool sipping on bintangs…

I have a mate that just came back from a splitboard trip down there. Still is plenty of snow around from the looks of his pictures. Enjoy nthn

F U… That is all

Aww Dylan, don’t be like that champ, I still love you!

If you really loved me you’d work for me on the weekend whilst i hike the main range

Pics or it didn’t happen

Ok so here it is, Main Range TR!

Got to Charlottes Pass at about 7pm Friday night and set about sorting out our packs and building a bit of a fire for warmth.  Was a very clear night but was also fairly windy.  I spent the night under my tent inner while my mate Bear decided to sleep out on his foam mat and thermarest in his sleeping bag. 

We had a good little set up and a few bevvies in our “fridge”

Woke up in the morning to a ripper looking day with the wind having dropped off quite a bit.

There is still a shit tonne of snow in the turning circle at Charlottes

This is looking out towards the main range and where we were heading

We were ready to head out at about 7am having eaten some yoghurt and muesli for brekky.  The packs were quite heavy, probably tipping around 35kgs with food, supplies and gear, I elected to carry out 4 cans of bourbon and coke despite Bear’s protests that I was mental for carrying extra weight, I figured I would be glad of the effort in the arvo.

Selfy of me ready to go

Bear ready

Bear obliged and took a proper pic of me before setting off

We headed down the path, I was kinda mentally evaluating how my pack felt and how I was going to go with it, at that stage it felt ok and I wasn’t overly concerned about anything, it was a beautiful day and the snow looked very rideable.  We got down to the Snowy River fairly quickly, I elected to take my boots and socks off and hike my tights and pants up to my knees, Bear decided he wanted to go pantless ha ha

The crossing itself was cold, very farken cold, my feet were in a lot of pain by the time we hit the other side of the first crossing. 

The first part done

Looking at the smaller second part

We got both parts out of the way without mishap, I’m pretty sure falling in with your pack basically spells the end of the trip before it’s really begun, you would have to be a bit mental to continue on with wet gear.

From the crossing on the slog begins in earnest especially for a super “fit” guy like me.  We hiked up about 500m before having to don snowshoes, these help but are no magic bullet.  The snow was very soft and corn like, I don’t think there had been an overnight freeze for a few days, not sure if that makes it harder but it makes everything a little more likely to get you wet.  The going was a decent pace, I was mostly going for about 10mins and then having a breather, the altitude really makes a difference especially when you’re slogging it out for extended periods of time.

Eventually after about an hour we got into a valley below club lake and I spotted a cornice that was really sheltered from the NW wind which by that stage had gotten up a bit, probably around 30-40kmh by that stage.  We hiked up to the protected gully and decided to pitch a the tent.

The cornice and the protected gully

Tent and living area done

Looking back down into the valley below club lake from our tent